Strength Training or Running: Which One Actually Works Better for Weight Loss?

Why Running Is Good — and Not So Good — for Weight Loss

Running is amazing for staying fit, active, and healthy, but it’s not the silver bullet for weight loss many people think it is. Growing up, we all heard that to lose weight and stay lean, you had to run two to three times a week, but nobody ever told us about the injuries that come with logging lots of miles.

The reason running helps with weight loss is that it supports energy balance. Running burns more calories than walking for the same distance because it engages large muscle groups and elevates your heart rate. This makes it more likely that you’ll burn more energy than you consume, which is the core driver of fat loss.

However, science also shows its limits. A recent study from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland suggests that running alone doesn’t always lead to ongoing weight loss for everyone. Bodies adapt. After initial changes, your metabolism often slows to compensate for increased energy use, so you may stop losing weight even if you keep running. The study’s authors concluded that running reliably prevents long-term weight gain but doesn’t guarantee continual weight loss on its own.

Why Strength Training Is Good for Weight Loss

Strength training is the best way to lose body fat because it isolates your muscles and contracts them against an applied load, building muscle and burning fat in the process. Strength training is about turning fat into muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest, so building muscle should be your ultimate goal.

But having the right programme and structure is key. I’ve trained clients who had been training for years but hadn’t seen much progress; once they started working with me, they began seeing results.Why? I changed their training from light weights to heavy weights, using compound movements like deadlifts, barbell squats, bench press, clean and press, and bodyweight exercises.

Within six weeks of lifting heavier weights that genuinely challenged their muscles, they started noticing their legs getting firmer, their glutes feeling harder, and their backs feeling less saggy.

A systematic review and meta-analysis found that strength training reduced body fat percentage, increased lean body mass in adults, and improved bone density, which means less risk of injury from accidental falls or everyday movements.

From My Experience as a Personal Trainer

I would advise doing both: strength training one to two times a week and running or cycling once a week. I’ve seen the best results for my clients when they’ve combined both into their training routine.

Another way to implement this would be to do 45 minutes of strength training, then 15–20 minutes of running or cycling to finish the session. For example, my client Ola, who was featured in Men’s Fitness (click), achieved his transformation through a combination of strength training, cardio, and boxing.